Two others in Trudeau fraud get probation

Michael P. Mayko

Updated 11:57 pm, Tuesday, March 12, 2013

NEW HAVEN -- A Trumbull lawyer and a Norwalk real estate appraiser saved themselves from a possible federal prison sentence by cooperating with authorities in a multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud orchestrated by William Trudeau.

U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall imposed two years probation on both John Bryk, 63, who practiced law for the past 38 years, and Thomas Preston, a 52-year-old real estate appraiser and mortgage originator.

Additionally she fined Bryk $5,000.

"John is a good and decent man," said Richard T. Meehan Jr., Bryk's lawyer and former classmate at University of Connecticut Law School. "He admitted his wrongdoing early on and cooperated with the government ... He feels scarred for life."

Meehan said Bryk has surrendered his license to practice law in the federal courts. Although he is still practicing in state court, he will go before a Superior Court judge who will determine the punishment.

Meehan said he hopes the judge will impose a short suspension similar to those given Mickey Sherman, a Stamford lawyer who served time on a tax evasion and Philip Russell, a Greenwich lawyer who received federal probation after admitting he failed to report a felony when he destroyed a client's computer containing child pornography evidence.

Both pleaded guilty to making false statements on bank documents, which enabled Trudeau to obtain $4.8 million in mortgages.

Trudeau, who Hall said earned his Ph.D in fraud, scammed hundreds of customers of his Newtown Oil Co. by failing to deliver on $260,000 in prepaid heating oil contracts. He then worked with the FBI to bribe former Superior Court Judge Daniel Brennan,

Trudeau was sentenced to nearly 16 years in prison for the scam, which involved developing and selling multi-million dollar homes in Westport. His wife, Heather Bliss, a paralegal who helped push through the mortgages, was sentenced to 30 months in prison.